Soul Eater vs The Supernatural
by SweetDarkLove
Summary: The SE gang was just enjoying a good night's sleep until out of nowhere something attacks the Academy, with Lord Death and Crona still inside. During the battle the gang encounters something stronger then anything they'd ever fought before, and learn that there are things much worse then Kishins in the world they live in. UDATED see the AN at CH.2 for new INFO on the story
1. Slender Nightmare

_** You know how some people get made fun of for being afraid of the dark, or the other things that go bump in the night? Well don't feel bad because there's nothing wrong with that. Sure people may call them a scaredy cat, or a paranoid freak, but me? I think they're smart, because there's plenty to be afraid of.**_

_** Like this chapter's monster for instance. What's tall, faceless, and wears a black suit? The answer: a very scary creature that enjoys preying on young children with the help of two of its loyal companions.**_

* * *

The three figures walked up to the entrance of the DWMA ~well one of them prowled on its arms and legs~ then opened up the doors and went through the halls as the lights began flickering around them, casting shadows over the third one's masked face. As they walked, the first one~ also the tallest of them, freakishly so even~ looked around until he saw the staircases and without even turning he pointed up as he and the dog-like creature walked down the steps. The masked one nodded and went up the stairs without a word, he knew his job without even having to hear it; somebody needed to be distracted while the boss did his business.

And so the two remaining creatures walked through the halls leading to the dungeons~ the candle-lanterns around them going out as they passed~ and as they walked a certain demon-swordsman was becoming more, and more uncomfortable in his sleep. Now Crona was _always_ uncomfortable in this room and hated being alone in the DWMA dungeons. Sure he was grateful that Lord Death forgave him and even let him come back to the academy after everything he did, but he still hated this room. He was alone, in the dark, and he didn't know how to deal with the dark, being in this room reminded him too much of the place Medusa used to throw him in as punishment back when he was with her.

But there was something else he didn't like about this room, something felt wrong, and it was getting steadily worse. Lately, for some reason, he began hearing what sounded like static during the day along with a feeling that she was being watched, but every time he looked no one was there, and during the night the static always got louder, but tonight was by far the worst, and he began shaking in his sleep completely unaware of the things coming towards him.

The two forms stopped in front of the large metal door but when the tall one grabbed the handle and twisted, it wouldn't budge. He tilted his blank white head to the side like he was confused by a locked door, but then a long, black tentacle slid out of the back of his suit, popped into the keyhole and with a click the door unlocked. And like it was said before, Crona had no knowledge of the things walking into his room, for he was currently in the middle of a nightmare, one of a time back when he was with Medusa.

The tall man looked down at Crona, watching the boy take short, shaky breaths, and then it looked at the dog creature and it nodded before hopping up onto the foot of the bed, which didn't even shake from its landing. It prowled up to where it was right over Crona, and it looked down at the boy with hunger; it always liked children, they always tasted the best, so fresh, so _juicy_. Its tongue flicked over its teeth as it breathed in the boys scent. It wanted him, oh it wanted him so, _so_ badly, and it was just about to reach down and start ripping him open, but then it felt something poke its shoulder. It looked back and suppressed a small whimper when it saw the tall-man towering above it, the shadows surrounding him and making him look like some kind of demon as he shook his head and so the dog-creature quickly leaned down so its head was at Crona's ear.

It was only now that the boy knew something was truly wrong; he didn't understand why but something was happening to the nightmare he was having, things were beginning to shift in and out and the nightmare was changing into something more like a memory.

And it was all because of the creature leaning over him _"Cronaaaa"_ it whispered into the boy's ear while its mouth didn't move _"can you hear me Crona?"_ the boy gave a sleepy whimper in response earning another hungry growl_ "come now Crona, remember what happened to you" _it hissed with some irritation, it _wanted_ him so _damn_ _**bad**__ "remember what happened all those years ago; you can never forget what happened"_ Crona curled up under the sheets, shaking more intensely now _"you know what I speak of, you have the memories locked away, but it doesn't matter"_ he leaned in closer _"you can't forget about him boy"_ it leaned in again and was practically touching Crona's ear _"you can __**never**__ forget your time with __**him**__."_

'~~~'

_Crona found himself standing inside the white-room again, with his mother standing in the doorway, staring at him in that disappointed look in her eyes "what did I just tell you Crona? I want you to kill it" she pointed at the small white rabbit at Crona's feet "now."_

_"But… b-b-but I can't" Crona looked up at his mother and was sniffling "they're just little rabbits, w-why do you keep making me kill them?" he was scared and confused._

_ Medusa scowled "because that's what I ordered you to do" she crossed her arms and when he just stood there her scowl darkened "we've gone over this before Crona, if you don't do what I say, then you're going back to the room."_

_ Crona tensed and began shaking his head frantically "no! n-no please, don't put me back in the room!" he stepped towards her with a pleading expression "I-I-I can't go in there; t-the tall man is waiting-"_

_ Medusa rolled her eyes "oh not that again!" she snapped and he flinched at her angry tone "how many times do I have to tell you this, that room is empty."_

_ Crona shook his head about to say otherwise, but then he froze when he saw something behind his mother, something that made his fear skyrocket to new heights. The darkness in that hallway behind his mother seemed to twist and turn until he could make out a tall form. The form slowly cleared and he began shaking when the tall faceless man walked up and stood behind his mother and then he lifted his right hand and waved at Crona. The boy took a step back and the tall man tilted his head to the side as he stopped waving and then he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, towards the dark hallway behind him, towards the room._

_ "What's wrong with you? You're shaking" Medusa noticed._

_ Crona kept staring at the tall man and he swallowed trying to clear his dry throat, he felt sick "if… I-I-if I kill the rabbit, I-I won't have to go to the room?"_

_ Medusa nodded with some confusion "yes, that's how it always works" she said as the tall man's shoulders slumped, and even without a face he looked disappointed._

_ But then he reached out towards his side and pressed his finger up against the wall. He then dragged his finger down and Crona tensed when a black line trailed behind it as he began writing. Without even looking to see how he wrote the tall man wrote a perfectly drawn, cursive message on the wall "don't you want to play with me?"_

_Crona shook his head quickly and Medusa eyes narrowed "why are you shaking your head?" she looked behind her, but she couldn't see anything even though the tall man was **right** there._

_He looked at her, not understanding how she couldn't see him and when he looked back at the wall, the message had disappeared and the tall man began writing again "that's not very nice Crona" he read and then in a flash the thing was in front of Crona and a burst of static erupted in the boy's ears._

_ Medusa turned back around and saw Crona staring up with a terrified look on his face "what is the matter with you?" she asked but he just kept staring as he began shaking._

_ The tall-man reached out and ran the back of his hand over Crona's cheek, it felt so gentle. He kept doing this for a little bit gently stroking the boy's cheek like a parent before its hand trailed down and wrapped around Crona throat. It slowly began squeezing and soon Crona couldn't breathe as the man above him slowly choked him right in front of his mother._

"_Crona, don't you ignore me, I asked you a question" she got off the wall she was leaning on but he kept on looking up, his face steadily getting paler "Crona…" she growled but again he ignored her and she walked towards him "Crona! Don't you **dare** ignore me you worthless child!" she stepped right **through** the tall man, and he faded away into nothing as Medusa raised her hand._

'~~~'

He bolted awake with a pained yelp, his cheek stinging, and he nearly collided face first with the _thing_ on top of his bed before it hopped back. It took him a second to realize that something was in the room with him and when he did he took in the details of the thing in front of him. It was large, it had grey skin that sagged in places and hugged tightly in others to where Crona could see bones poking at the skin and then he saw that it was in the shape of a bulky human ~a horribly disfigured human that looked like it had been hit by a car, but still human in shape~ though it sat on the edge of his bed like a dog.

The next thing that he saw though scared him within an inch of his life. he looked past the creature on his bed and then found himself staring up at the tall man from his nightmare who then lifted his pale hand up and waved as if he were an old friend trying to say "hey there buddy, long time no see."

Crona was silent for what felt like hours to himself but then he snapped out of it when the grey thing took a step forward on his bed "get away" he scooted back but it took another step forward "get away from me" Crona's back soon hit the wall.

"Hey Crona?" he felt Ragnarok stir inside of him, sounding groggy "what's happening? Who the hell are you talking-" Ragnarok fell silent mid-sentence "what the hell is that!"

The thing took another step "get away" and another "_get_ _away_" and _another_ "get-away-get-away-get-away-get-away" it took one more stop closer and Crona lifted his right hand over his shoulder "I SAID GET AWAY!" Ragnarok formed in his hand and he slashed out.

'~~~'

Lord Death stood in front of his mirror, looking over parts of the city as he usually did, but he wasn't his usual calm self, he looked at the mirror trying to find the source of this feeling he was having, this sudden feeling of cold and a faint ~almost imaginary~ static in his ears. He kept looking but he had no luck whatsoever, and he began thinking he was just jumping at shadows, but then the floor suddenly began shaking. He looked around the room with confusion then tensed and jumped back as a screaming purple pillar shot out of the floor and hit the ceiling, blasting it apart like it was nothing. Death looked at the hole in the ceiling for one second before a burst of clear, loud static erupted with enough force to make his mask wince and he immediately thought one thing: _"Crona."_

The jets on Death's cloak popped out and he launched towards the door as the building quaked again and it was only out in the hall that he saw the lights flickering everywhere. He looked around the halls as he blew through them, wondering what the hell was happening when suddenly someone appeared in front of him and he stopped about a meter from of them. This person was somewhat burly, wearing a grey zip-up jacket and a pair of long jeans, but that wasn't what caught Death's attention. What caught his attention was the white, almost doll-like, mask with blacked out eyes and lips with what looked like penciled-in raised eyebrows on the man's face.

"Who are you?" Death didn't bother with his high voice, he used his normal voice as his hands popped out "are you one of the ones attacking my academy?" the masked person didn't answer but he tapped his nose, as if saying "you got it" and Death growled "I swear, if any of you hurt one of my students I'm going to-" he didn't finish because the masked-man charged him pulling out a butcher knife from his jacket. Death dodged back as the masked-man began slashing at him over and over again with speed he hadn't seen in a human before. The masked man kept slashing until he feinted one and managed to get a nice cut on Death's front, almost shredding the god's cloak, which clinched it for him "okay, that is _it_" he slapped the blade back mid-swipe, snapping the masked-man's hand backwards and raised his own hand "Reaperrrrr…"

'~~~'

Stein was sleeping soundly alongside Marie in his home~ soon to be their home if things continued their current pace~ but then they both bolted up when they felt the first boom "Stein?" Marie looked over at him and he already had his eyes closed.

"Give me a second" he pushed his senses out towards the academy, the direction the boom came from and he instantly knew something was wrong "someone's at the academy… and it looks Lord Death is fighting them now… but there something wrong with the soul he's up against…"

Marie's uncovered eye widened "Lord Death is fighting?" she them jumped out of the bed and immediately began pulling out her, and Stein's clothes from the dresser next to the bed.

"Yes… but there's something else" his eyes tightened as he focused "there's two of them-" he heard a sharp and short, but powerful scream and he scowled "and they're after Crona" Marie's concern only grew and she only put her clothes on faster "but… just like the first one there's something wrong-" his eyes shot open and he gripped his ears, falling back with a pained yell as a burst of static erupted in his ears.

"Stein?" Marie put her hand on his shoulder as he winced "are you ok? Stein?" she shook his shoulder with worry as he gripped his ears tightly.

After the static withered to small noise he nodded with a growing scowl, he'd heard that static only once before in his life, he knew where it was from "I'm fine" he shook her hand off and quickly got to putting his own clothes on "but we need to get over to the Academy, _now._"

Marie frowned at him as she quickly went through the buttons on her dress "what's wrong? What did you feel?"

Stein shook his head as he put on his glasses "these things attacking are strong, and very dangerous and they're attacking one of our students" he pulled his coat on with a scowl "I swear if one of them even scratches Crona I'm going to make their dissection as slow and painful as possible."

He and Marie both hoofed it to the exit though she noticed he seemed much angrier then he normally would have been about a situation like this, he was usually so calm "Stein do you know something?"

He didn't look back at her though she could tell he was debating whether or not to tell her the truth. He then shook his head, deciding against it "yes, but I can't talk about it."

"What do you mean?" she frowned at him with utter confusion "if you know something, then tell me."

"I'm sorry Marie, but I can't" he looked back at her with a pleading expression but she shook her head "please drop it."

"But why?"

"Marie, please-"

"No, I don't understand why you can't tell me; I have no idea what's happening right now, so if you know something-"

"Look, I'm sorry but I can't!" he snapped back at her and when he saw the confused hurt in her eyes he immediately wanted to hit himself "… I'm sorry Marie it's just… ok maybe after we take care of this I can think of a way to tell you about it without endangering you, but for now please drop it. Please."

She wanted to protest, not understanding how telling her something endangered her, but when she saw the look in his eyes she stopped. He was still angry about something, but he also looked scared, if he was _this_ worried about telling her something then that was enough for her to drop it "okay… okay I'll drop it" she saw how he relaxed after hearing that, his earlier anger at whatever was attacking slowly returning "but after this, you're going to tell me everything about what's going on okay? _Everything._"

He had that look again, but then he thought about it _"well… she's going to see him anyway, so that would count towards knowing about him"_ he sighed then nodded, feeling even angrier about how he couldn't kept this from happening "okay… I'll tell you… but only after we've saved Crona."

She nodded focusing now on the Academy as one of the walls on the top half of the building exploded out in a shower of dust "right."

'~~~'

Maka lay in her bed and did what she normally did when she slept: she thought. More specifically, she thought about a certain person: _Crona_, and she was worried about him, as usual. She'd noticed lately that he'd been looking over his shoulder as if there was someone there and he was acting a lot more paranoid then usual ~jumpy, scared~ but whenever she asked him about it he always said he didn't know what the problem was, and that ate at Maka because without knowing the problem she couldn't help him with it.

Though she noticed something that had started around the same time as Crona's jumpy behavior; she had been feeling something lately, something that felt strange… dark… and for some reason strangely _evil_. She began wondering what it had to do with Crona's behavior lately, but right as she began the thought she bolted up awake when she felt a sharp jolt in her head followed by a short scream that she recognized instantly: one of Crona's attacks.

She jumped out of her bed and quickly pounded the wall over her dresser "Soul! Get up now!" she punched the wall one last time then quickly stripped off her pajamas and began pulling out her usual clothes.

On the other side of the wall though, Soul got up slowly, feeling very groggy "wha? You say somethin' Maka?" he called with a bit of a slur.

"I set get up Soul! Something's happening at the Academy!" Maka pulled up her skirt then put on her vest and began buttoning it "Crona's in trouble!"

That snapped Soul awake "what?" he jumped up and went to his dresser "what do you mean he's in trouble?"

And as he looking for a pair of clothes he was now completely unaware now of the magical cat-girl who rubbed her eyes as she sat up wrapped in the covers of his bed "Scythe-boy?" she watched at him sleepily "what's a matter? Is something happening?" she frowned at how fast he was going through his dresser.

Soul didn't answer her as he tore his dresser open and pulled on a shirt and pants "seriously Maka, I'm going to need a little more info then that, what's happening?" he yelled as he yanked his jacket off his desk-chair then ran through the door, nearly running into Maka as she passed him, going towards the exit.

She shook her head as they practically broke the exit door open running out "I don't know, but I can feel something wrong with his soul, he's hurt and fighting right now-" they both snapped their attention to the Academy when an area near the top exploded into a cloud of dust "and it feels like Lord Death is fighting too."

"What the hell's happening?" Soul muttered as he shook his head and then they jumped onto his motorcycle.

Maka shook her head again "I don't know, though I do know that someone, or some thing is attacking Crona and Lord Death right now."

Soul started his bike up and with a roar they drove off towards the academy and as they closed in they felt the ground shake under their feet in time with little explosions they saw dotting the top half of the Academy, no doubt caused by Death's fight.

A few minutes later, also a good distance from her and Soul's apartment, Maka noticed something in the air above her and she soon saw a trail of smoke following a fast moving object. She soon saw the outline of a person with two shining objects in their hands as they flew on top of a skateboard "KID!" she screamed over the bike.

The young reaper heard her and looked down "Maka?" he yelled back as he lowered himself on his board and when he was close enough Maka could see that the sisters were in his hands, already in weapon form "did you hear Crona too?"

"Yeah, it snapped me wide awake" she nodded looking back at the academy "do you have any idea what's going on?"

He shook his head as they closed in on the academy "other then someone attacking me father and Crona, no, but something definitely feels wrong about the souls of the things attacking" he looked towards the Academy as yet another explosion went up at the top of the academy "Maka, I know this may sound weird, but have you heard any static tonight? For some reason my ears are screaming at me right now!"

"Static?" Maka frowned at the question but then she focused on the Academy, pushing out with her soul. She didn't understand what he ment about static, she saw Death and the person he was attacking, then she saw Crona, who was being followed by what felt like an animalistic human's soul, but then the last one-

Maka nearly fell off the bike as she gripped her ears with a pained yelp as a burst of loud static erupted in her ear "Maka? You ok?" Soul looked back at her with concern.

She slowly opened her eyes as the static subsided "yeah… y-yeah I'm ok" she stuttered and her hands shook as she took them away from her ears. That soul, it felt wrong, there was something very, _very_ wrong with it "what are these things?"

"I don't know, but from the looks of things it sure looks like these guys are gonna be fun to fight!" Maka looked to her side and she and Soul nearly jumped off the bike when they saw a blur of glowing blue and black next to the bike "I mean look at all those explosions!"

"Black… Black Star?" Maka was shocked to say the least, she'd never seen him move that fast before.

"Yeah, it's me" he laughed.

"What are you doing here?" she frowned. His soul perception, hell his entire sixth sense was awful, he couldn't feel a soul if his life depended on it "did you somehow feel something?"

She heard him snort a laugh "feel something? Come on Maka you know I could never do that" he laughed again confirming what she already knew "no, I was just out training when I saw the first explosion, so I woke Tsubaki up and started running this way, and here I am."

"Cool, so the gangs all here!" Soul yelled with a grin "that should make things a bit easier!"

"Hopefully yes, and it looks like we'll have some more backup too" Kid looked around and he felt two souls close to the Academy and getting closer by the second, the two of them belonging to Stein and Marie "it looks like the Professor and Marie are almost there."

Maka felt somewhat reassured by the fact that the rest of her team was here along with the extra support of her professor, but she still felt worried. That last soul she felt, the one with the static, she shivered thinking about it; it felt strong, but not only that it felt scary. She thought about that and she almost laughed, souls don't _feel_ scary, that's not how it supposed to work, but this thing, it just radiated fear, like it was _made_ for people to be afraid of it.

She looked back towards the Academy and could only hope Stein and Marie reached it in time "please be careful Crona" she felt the boy's soul again as it ran from the other two, and unlike that other soul, the fear she felt coming from Crona's was natural and very strong. He must be terrified.

'~~~'

"Screech Alpha!" Crona jumped and did a 360 slash, sending his scream back down the hall as he stumbled out a landing, scrambling back to his feet before he started running again.

"Damn it Crona! Run faster!" Ragnarok yelled as a small puddle of black blood on the floor glowed and shot needles towards the dog.

The dog thing chasing him easily dodged the needles and scream with a hop to the side, but that let it shoot straight past it towards the tall-man. He didn't move to get out of the way at all as he leisurely strolled down the hall, but right as it was a few feet in front of him he raised his hand, pressed his forefinger and thumb together then he _flicked_ the scream right in to the wall next to him demolishing it into powder.

Crona ran faster then he ever thought he could as the dog thing ran behind him and he shook his head _"why is this happening?" _he whispered to himself as he slashed his wrist deep, dropping small puddles of blood onto the ground behind him "I don't know how to deal with this!" he yelled as spikes shot out of the puddles, barely slowing the dog down as it nimbly dodged them.

He ran up the stairs and flicked his arm around splashing blood over the walls and floor to try and slow the dog down more and by the time he made it halfway into the hall towards the exit he was feeling lightheaded, from all this blood-loss mixed with all the running. He kept on running though because he had a good idea of what would happen if he stopped and plus he felt a small glimmer of hope when he saw the exit, maybe he could find someone to help him if he got outside; all he had to do was get through that door. He had just made it through the door and was a few feet out, feeling as if he had a cake walk from then on, but then something hit him in the back with enough force to throw him into the middle of the DWMA's courtyard.

He slowly pushed himself up and looked back to see the dog creature walking towards him slowly, like a predator closing in on a prey that has just realized it can't get away. It looked back behind it and saw that the tall-man hadn't made it here yet, he was probably still walking up those steps leading to the hallway, that was plenty of time. It growled hungrily as Crona tried to get back up but it reached him before he could and it back-handed him right in the face, sending him onto his back a couple feet away.

It prowled towards the boy again, thinking of which piece it would eat first, but right before it reached him again it heard shoes clicking across the stones of the courtyard "get away from him!" it turned just to see a flash of yellow metal before a hard, and very forceful contact flung it back. It got to its feet in a flash but only got a glance of the black and yellow dressed woman before she punched it again, smashing its head into the ground. Marie began pounding the creature without pause, hearing satisfying crunches as its bones snapped under her metal fists before a strong uppercut sent it flying backwards about ten feet towards the entrance of the Academy.

Stein cleared the last of the steps and came to rest next to Marie who was kneeling next to Crona, seeing if he was alright, but the scientist's concern was erased when he saw the dog creature "Stein, what _is_ that thing?" Marie looked up at the thing as it twitched on the ground, broken bones showing all throughout its body thanks to Marie.

She was just about to ask again when the thing twitched again, and then it slowly pushed itself up with its one unbroken arm. It stood up on two incredibly broken legs that angled in directions Marie, Crona and Stein knew couldn't be normal, but then with a crack its left leg straightened out. The Meisters and Weapon watched in stunned silence as the thing's body began straightening out with a series of sickening snaps from the legs up. Soon all of its bones had gone back to the way they had been before ~still in an odd angle in places but better then what it was before~ all except for its head, which was tilted at an angle that obviously showed a snapped neck, but then it grabbed it head with its right hand and righted it with a loud snap.

"Stein?" Marie looked at the scientist but he was silent as the creature began growling as its hands began shaking.

And its hands kept on shaking, but then, with the sickening sound of flesh tearing, ten long black, six-inch blades erupted out of its fingers. Before the last of the loose flesh had even fell to the ground from the new claws the thing had jumped forward with a roar, running like a dog straight towards Marie, its claws clicking on the tiles. She barely had time to change her arm into her partial weapon form and block the first slash which pushed her backwards with a flash of sparks, but it kept going after her, pushing her away further.

"Marie!" Crona and Stein both called towards her and Stein was just about to go after them, but then he felt something tap him on his shoulder and when he turned he found himself looking at a red tie. He looked up and saw the tall pale, blank face staring back at him and Stein stared for only one second before his hands curled into fists.

The tall man have him a friendly little salute before Stein moved to palm him and hit him with his wavelength, but then the tall-man pinched Stein's wrist between his thumb and forefinger, stopping the palm an inch from touching his suit. The tall man lifted his hand up and grabbed Stein's other hand the same way, lifting it up as well until Stein's feet were dangling above the ground and the two of them were face to face.

Stein's face was a picture of frustrated anger and it only deepened when a tentacle reached up out of the tall man's back. It was just about to wrap around Stein's to tighten around and crush the life from him, but then a scream rang out and the tentacle was cut in half by the purple screaming arrow that came from behind Stein.

"Get… away… from him" Stein heard Crona panting and then he was thrown to the side. He tried getting back up, but then four hands appeared and shot out of the tall-man's back and pinned Stein's arms and legs down so all he could do was watch as the tall-man stared down at Crona, and it was here that Stein saw how bad the boy looked.

Crona was panting; he had scratches on his face and a small cut on his cheek from where the dog creature hit him, and when Stein saw how black Crona's hand was he realized something. How much blood did Crona have to throw away just to survive this long against these two things? From the looks of his hand it was obviously enough to give him no chance against the thing standing in front of him now. He was weak, tired, and up against something that was better then him in almost any way. Those weren't good odds.

The tall-man looked at the cut tentacle on his shoulder as it retracted into his suit then back down to Crona before he put his hands on his hips as if saying he were saying "really? You really did that?" the tall man then shook his head. Crona tried lifting Ragnarok over his shoulder to get another slash out, but before he was even halfway there the tall-man's hand shot out and grabbed the boy by the neck. It lifted Crona up slowly until they were face to face and the tall-man tilted his head when Crona began choking and then the tall-man squeezed down on his throat even tighter.

Its other hand slowly reached up towards Crona's face and then the tall-man ran the back of his hand over Crona's unwounded cheek. It was gentle, just like in the memory, and it also filled Crona with that same horrible, gut-wrenching terror he felt back in that memory. And it was only here, hanging limply in the grasp of this giant as a mass of black tentacles came out of its back and began enveloping the two of them~ that he finally realized something: he… was going… to _die_ here. He saw Stein still pinned down by the hands and then he painfully turned his head to see Marie on her back holding the dog thing away as it tried snapping her face off.

Crona saw them as they struggled and he just couldn't believe it. He looked back to the blank face of the tall-man holding him and Ragnarok disappeared back into his hand _"so this is it?"_ he thought as the tentacles wrapped around him _"this thing… it's going to kill me"_ he jammed his eyes shut tight "I… I don't know… how to deal with dying" he managed to get out before everything went dark around him.

* * *

_**Alright, alright, alriiiiiight! First chapter cliffhanger FTW!**_

_** So yeah, this is just an idea I got after watching some Supernatural, and I decided to add these three to mix and as a great way to start us off. This fic is basically going to be about our favorite team going around hunting supernatural creatures, but they're going to have to survive the ones in this chapter first. And by the way, I realize I haven't actually said the names of these three in the fic yet, but that's only because Crona and the gang don't know about them yet.**_

_** Heh-heh, not that Crona's going to be finding out about them or anything… or is he? Well, you'll just have to keep an eye out for the next chapter to find out now won't you?**_

_** Ok, so leave your reviews, comment and any criticism you may have if you want to. I am pleased to hear support and any advice to improve my writing for your reading pleasure.**_


	2. The Deal

_** Alright, next chapter is up and running. As I said after this chapter was complete I would explain how things would work for this story, so check out the authors note after this.**_

_** Oh yeah, and just something to show you "x-x-x" means a change in position. "…" means a long period of time, and '~~~' means a short period of time, like half an hour or something.**_

_** Now, as always, your opinions matter to me so read on tell me how it is for you. Critics are welcome.**_

* * *

This was bad. Stein looked over at the large black bubble that the tall man had put up around himself and Crona. He knew what was happening and out of both of the possibilities of what was happening in there, he didn't know what was worse, but both ended with Crona leaving them. He struggled under the hands that were pinning him to the ground, but he couldn't even budge his wrists let alone move his hands and that kept him from shooting his wavelength into the arm on his chest.

He heard an anger filled yell and he turned to see Marie trying to punch the dog off of her, but every time she did it was on her the next second, snarling and snapping inches from her face. This can't be happening, not again, and especially not with Crona and Marie. He couldn't lose these two.

"Damn it" he snarled under his breath as he looked back at the bubble _"please just hold on Crona"_ he felt out with his soul _"the others will be here soon"_ he saw a ripple go through the bubble and he tried to move again _"I just hope they get here soon enough."_

x-x-x

It was dark… Crona _hated_ the dark.

And he hated it now more then anything because he was all alone, he couldn't hear Ragnarok anymore, he just seemed to stop yelling at him to get away from this thing suddenly.

And so now Crona drifted in the dark, alone, and shaking, curled up in a ball, as if that could help him. It almost felt to him as if something was smothering his entire body as he floated through the darkness, it was suffocating almost, it felt as though he couldn't breathe. He remained there with that crushing feeling looming over him for what felt like an eternity, but then suddenly the feeling left and he felt something underneath him. It was only now that Crona realized that he had his eyes jammed shut and when he opened them, he found himself curled up in the corner of a room.

Something was wrong with this room however, the first thing he noticed being the fact that it had no walls or ceiling. There was only the black and white checkered floor beneath him, and a couch, and table with a lamp on top lying in the middle of all of it. Crona looked around and found that the floor tiles only went so far as about a meter away from the couch and after the border of the tiles it was nothing but a white expanse. Crona looked out and then down into the endless white and when he poked his foot out past the edge he nearly fell when his foot never touched anything.

"Yeah, you might not want to do that" he snapped towards the noise and took a step back when he saw someone was now sitting on the couch. His shock however wasn't because there was someone here, no, it was because of who it was.

"M… Maka?" Crona stared at her with surprise and confusion written all over his face as she got up.

He saw that she was wearing a black, silky dress and she smiled at him as she walked over "yep, hey there Crona."

"W-What… how…" he shook his head "what are you doing here?!"

She chuckled before hugging him "I'm here to talk with you" she wrapped her arm around his and led him away from the edge.

"Talk?" Crona blanched. Talking wasn't what was needed for a situation like this, they needed to get out. Fast.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk with you about some-"

"What happened to the tall man!" he blurted out suddenly "he attacked me! And then he and that… that thing, they went after Miss Marie and Stein!" he looked around trying to see an exit, but it was just the endless white after the tiles ended "we have to get out and help them!"

She shook her head with a smile "calm down Crona, you're ok" se rubbed his back and sat him down on the couch "you're okay now, I took you away from there, those things can't hurt you anymore."

"What? No, why would you do that? The others are in trouble!"

She smiled at him "Crona, please calm down and listen, if you go back there you're going to die-"

"I don't care about that!" he looked her in the eye, not understanding what was going on.

She reached up and cupped his cheek "it's ok Crona, all you have to do is stay with me, the other's will take care of those things, and when it's safe, I'll bring you back."

"But the others can't fight those things, they already had Stein and Marie down when the tall one grabbed me" he shook his head "they could already be dead!"

"Just listen to me Crona, I don't want to lose you" she pulled him into a hug "and if a few people have to die, to keep you safe, then so be it" he tensed under her. Let the others die?

He was still for a second, but then he shoved her off of him and backed away "get away from me" he grabbed the lamp and held it in both hands in front of him and he stared at the person in front of him angrily.

The girl frowned at him "Crona, what are you talking about-"

"You. Aren't. Maka" he took another step back.

She got up and took a step towards him "what do you mean? Of course I'm me-"

"No you aren't!" Crona shook his head and backed away more "Maka _always_ wants to protect her friends, and she would never leave any of them to die!"

She looked as though she was just about to say something else to try and convince him otherwise, but then with a roll of her eyes her arms dropped to her sides with a sigh. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head with a whistle "man, you are a tough little one aren't you?" she smirked at him then "you know… most potentials I do this with accept what I say and stay… but no, not you" she breathed out and rubbed her forehead "oh well, I had a feeling that you'd be more difficult then the other people in the past."

He was about to ask what she meant, but then he felt something shift in the area. He looked around, and gradually, he heard something, something that chilled him to the bone and almost made him drop the lamp from the force of his trembling. The static was back, and it was getting more and more intense by the second.

"It's too bad really" Crona looked back at the imposter, and he backed away another step as her skin become gradually paler, until it was practically milky and her eyes became black pits _"I really like recruiting young people into the fold, the younger the better is the way I always felt" _he noticed her voice become somewhat wispy and then saw something slide out of her back and he took yet another step back when he saw a tentacle moving up over him, though something was wrong with it. Instead of a pointed tip it was somewhat blocky at the end, and he turned to follow it, and when he did that he found himself looking at a red tie.

He began shaking more intensely as he looked up into the blank face of the tall man. He saw movement at the thing's shoulder and he saw the tentacle go into its body _**"you seemed to show so much promise"**_ he tilted his head to the side, but the voice was coming from the imposter behind him. So that was it, he was controlling whatever that thing behind Crona was like a puppet _**"but it looks like I'm going to have to go with plan B with you"**_ Crona raised the lamp to hit him, but he simply stopped it with the tip of his finger and it wagged his free finger at Crona, as if he were scolding a child _**"oh well, you look tasty enough"**_ and in a flash his hand was at Crona's throat and he squeezed down.

Crona gagged and tried to peel the fingers back, but they wouldn't budge, and then he felt someone's hands on his shoulders _**"this is your own fault you know, all you had to do was stay put on the couch with me"**_ Crona began seeing stars swim through his eyes from the lack of air _**"it's odd really, from what I've seen when I watched you, this girl seemed to mean the world to you, you did anything she asked without question, so I thought using a body like this would help smooth things over"**_ he heard what sounded like a giggle _**"but I guess I didn't pay enough attention to her, maybe if I did you'd already be working with me, but it looks like I messed up"**_ the grip on his shoulders tightened and he winced at the pain _**"you know, I've never understood that about humans, what you said about the girl always wanting to protect her friends I mean, why protect something if it just ends up killing you?"**_ the tall man scratched at his cheek giving him a somewhat contemplative expression _**"I suppose I'll never know."**_

He pulled his hand back and pointed at Crona's chest and he had an idea of what was about to happen when this thing decided to push it forward. Why did this have to happen to him? What did he do wrong? He thought he had finally made up for the things Medusa made him do. So why was this happening to him? Did life just enjoy toying with him? Was there some sick and twisted higher being out there that just enjoyed watching him suffer? Crona's head looked to the side as he began seeing dark spots over his eyes. Why did this have to happen?

Just before Crona blacked out in the hands of the tall thing holding him, he could have sworn he saw something though. It was probably from the lack of air, he was probably seeing things, but he could have sworn that he saw a bright, pinprick of pale-blue light out of the corner of his eye.

He stared at it as the edges of his vision blacked, until all he could see was that glowing pinprick of blue _"I wonder… if you normally see things… when you die like this"_ Crona thought as the pinprick seemed to change into what looked like the tip of a large blade _"yeah… I must be seeing things… since when do flashy dots become big scythes?"_ he thought as the darkness swallowed him up completely.

x-x-x

"Witch Hunter!" Maka slashed down with Soul and hit the black bubble dead on, slashing it right down the center "Black Star!"

"I got him!" Black Star launched over her shoulder right as the darkness was shredded to reveal the tall faceless man in a suit holding Crona by the neck. The tall man turned to face Black Star with a tilted head just before the blue-haired boy's feet connected with his blank face. He released his grip on Crona for an instant of surprise, but that was all Black Star needed to grab him and kick-jump away from the tall thing.

Black Star set the boy down behind him and Maka and he held Tsubaki up towards the pale creature in front of him and his friend while Kid took aim towards the thing that was currently on top of Marie trying to bite her face off. He hit it five times before it finally jumped off of her and ran over to the tall man and then Kid took aim and fired on the arms pinning Stein down on the ground. The arms ripped apart from the onslaught of pullets and disintegrated into black and faded away as Stein scrambled to him feet. The instant the adults were free they got to their feet quickly and moved over to their students, never taking their eyes off the two creatures in front of them.

Maka took a quick glance at Stein and Marie, and was relieved to see that except for a cut on Stein's forehead and a few scratches of Marie's arms they were alright. Crona on the other had, she could tell that he was bad from the tiny puddle forming underneath his hand "Professor Stein… what _are_ those things?"

He shook his head, and took a glance at Crona who was breathing heavily behind them. He was unconscious "later, right now, we need to focus on surviving" he reached his hand out and Marie changed into the thick yellow Tonfa that was her weapon form and she shot into his hand.

Maka nodded and readied Soul "Black Star, you take the dog, me and Kid can take care of this guy" Black Star only nodded and edged sideways away from the group.

The dog growled eyeing him hungrily and only after the tall man lazily waved in Black Star's direction did it moved sideways as well. So it didn't get to eat the pink-haired one; that was fine, this blue haired-boy seemed tasty enough. Once they were far away from the others it suddenly ran ahead with a roar and Black Star grinned as Tsubaki's blade met with the thing's claws.

"Let's go!" Maka and Stein ran ahead while Kid disappeared in a flash and appeared over the tall man. He began firing endlessly but the thing didn't even move as he disappeared again while Maka slashed at him sideways and Stein hit him directly in the chest with Marie. Again, he didn't move as the scythe bit into his side and its stomach caved in from the force of the massive blow from Marie.

He looked down at Maka, then at Stein and he cocked his head to the side. Maka and Stein jumped back just in time as the arms shot out of his chest and side, almost grabbing them by the neck. They stepped back more and Kid shot at him a few more times before he finally ceased, the barrels of the sisters smoking and glowing hot as the arms slowly slithered back into the man.

Stein eyed the tall man with venom while Maka and Kid stared at the pale thing with shock as he looked down at his body. There were holes, rips, and tears everywhere across his suit, but he didn't seem to care at all. He then faced them again and reached up with both hands and pinched the collar of his suit, and then with utter shock Maka and Kid watched him peel it forward and then flick the top of the suit, sending a wave through the rest of it. It looked to everyone as if he were spreading out a blanket for a picnic as the suit peeled away down to his arms where the ruined suit turned inside out, and everyone saw that there was a new, perfectly clean suit underneath. The tall man held the ruined suit off to the side, pinching the top between two fingers as if it was a piece of something smelly and then tossed it away as it came apart into strands of black and then disintegrated in the air.

He then lifted up a hand and wagged his finger at them, which just succeeded in infuriating them all, but it also did something else to them, it scared them that he could just walk away from that without a scratch "Professor?" Kid glanced at the man then quickly back to the tall man "what do we do?"

Stein shook his head "there's only one thing we can do" he readied Marie "Marie? Soul Resonance."

Maka glanced at him and then nodded "get ready to play Soul" she spun him around and readied him "Soul Resonance!" Kid followed suit with the sisters, spinning them on his pinkies before aiming at the thing in front of him.

"Resonance Link!" their souls folded into each other and became one as their weapons glowed in unison.

Soul enlarged and shifted into the large halberd-like blade of the Genie-Hunter, Liz and Patti changed into cannons, while Marie's form remained the same except for the yellow glow of her soul. Maka gave the mental order, and they all vanished at once.

The tall man could see their every move however and didn't even try to get out of the way as Maka appeared above him, ready to slash down with Soul, Kid appeared behind him with Liz and Patti pointed right at him, and Stein appeared at his side ready to hit him with everything he had and probably snap him in half. They honestly believed they had him here, which is why what happened next, made them all feel so confused.

Maka brought Soul down in a lightning quick slash "Genie-hun-" but then, in another flash the tall man lifted his right hand up and met the blade halfway, halting it completely. Three other arms shot out of him, two from his back which jammed into the barrels of Liz and Patti, and one on his side that caught Marie just as she was three inches from his side. This had happened in the course of a second and their eyes all widened in unison just as Maka finished speaking, the confusion evident "-ter?"

The tall man twisted his wrist, shattering Soul's blade and then with another flick of his wrist he slapped Maka away, the arms of his back pushed deeper into the barrels of the sisters, blasting Kid backwards with the power of his own attack, and the one in his side shoved Marie back with enough force to throw Stein's hand back, leaving the tall man free to punch him right in the chest, knocking all the air out of his chest and throwing him back a good few feet and the arm extended after him then split apart into five arms which then pinned Stein's limbs down and smashed Marie into the ground after him.

Maka fell on her face in pain, Kid landed on his back unconscious, and Stein on his side and all three couldn't get up, Maka couldn't even breathe, even though it was Stein who took the hit to the gut. What _was_ this thing? Nothing could be this strong. She managed to painfully turn her head and see Black Star, and she could see that he was handling that dog well enough, he only had a few scratches, so why was it they were having so much trouble with this thing? There were three of them, and they had Stein and Marie, two of the strongest members of the academy, so how were they losing?

She turned her head again and looked at Crona's body. He had balled up unconsciously and his body was shaking. She then saw the tall man glance in his direction and her eyes widened in horror as the thing began moving towards him. She reached forward and dragged herself towards him, to try and cut the man off halfway, but she only managed to reach him just as he made it over Crona. She saw a tentacle slither out of his shoulder and it moved down and readied itself to stab into Crona's back, but then Maka grabbed the tall man's leg.

He twitched and then turned his head to look down her and he tilted his head at her hateful expression "get… away… from him."

The tentacle remained where it was as the tall man turned to face her completely and then he reached down and picked her up by the neck and stared at her, expressionless. Maka lifted Soul up and tried a one-handed slash, but the tall man simply flicked him out of her hand and as Soul glowed and changed back an arm popped out of the tall man's shoulder and he smashed it into Soul's chest, earning a pain filled yell as the ground cracked under his back.

The tall man looked down at Soul, then back up at Maka, and he shook his head as he turned her around so that she was now looking down at Crona. The tip of the tentacle lowered and pressed into Crona's back, and Maka instantly felt like she was going to throw up. This thing… it was going to make her watch as it killed Crona. She tried yelling at it, to tell it to stop, but its grip was like a vice over her neck, and it barely let her breathe, let alone talk.

Tears welled in her eyes as the tentacles began forcing through the fabric of Crona's robe, the pace it was going at designed to make this as painful as possible for the boy. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, and beg, and do anything that could save Crona, but none of it mattered. He was going to die. Then Soul, then Black Star, and Kid, and all of the others and she was going to have to watch all of it.

The tentacle was just about to pierce Crona skin when suddenly the tall man heard a whistling sound and the next instant the tentacle was cut in half as a large star sliced through it. The tall man looked over to his side and saw the blue-haired boy who had thrown it… right before the dog tackled him and bit down into his arm going all the way to the bone. Tsubaki changed and ran towards Black Star to try and help, but the dog simply backhanded her when she got close enough, knocking her headfirst into the ground, knocking her out.

Maka looked at her friends with pure terror as Black Star tried to keep his arm from being chewed off and Soul tried to move the hand pinning him to the ground. Then she looked over at Kid as the sisters tried desperately to wake him up, she could see the fear in their eyes, and Liz was actually crying without even realizing it. They were all going to die. They were all going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. The tears were coming freely now, but the sobs were trapped in her throat by the hand choking her.

_"Somebody…"_ she thought looking down at Crona one more time as the tall man shook his head and extended yet another tentacle _"anybody…"_ her vision swam from the lack of air _"help…"_

The tall man released his grip a bit and let Maka take a breath, he wanted her awake so she could see this. It wasn't every day that he got to kill somebody's loved ones right in front of them and he wanted to make this as excruciatingly painful for the girl for the mischief she had caused. Oh how he loved this game of his, toying with these lesser creatures. And besides it was their own fault anyway, they started all of this. They didn't have to be afraid of him, they didn't have to scream or yell at him whenever they saw him, but they chose to in their ignorance, and for that, they deserved to die in his opinion.

He was just about to stab the pink-haired boy below him and take a look at that heart of his when he noticed something. He looked at the ground a few feet away and if he had a face he would have frowned. Were the tiles getting brighter suddenly or was it just him? He looked up to see the problem and Maka noticed him tilt his head and then sag and then she looked for herself to see what made him stop.

The sun. It was coming up. She looked up at him and then she yelped when he dropped her. He snapped his fingers and the dog suddenly froze on top of Black Star and the arms pinning everyone to the ground retracted back into him.

She and the others ~who were conscious anyway~ watched painfully as the Tall man's shoulders began shaking and then he pressed a hand over his face as he threw his head back. It was only after he began clapping his hands, his shoulders still shaking that she realized what he was doing. He was laughing.

He shook his head and then snapped his fingers once more and the dog let go of Black Star and then reluctantly retreated over to the man's side. He then looked up at the academy and a second later one of the windows shattered and someone jumped out. Maka and the others saw that it was a person in a jacket and as he jumped down from the window the entire wall behind him exploded and Death flew out after him.

"Where do you think you're going!" he yelled as the person took up the other side of the tall man and Death froze when he saw him "… _you_" he looked around at the others and noted with relief that their souls were still on the inside of their bodies "what do you think you're doing to my students?" he snarled.

But the tall man just waved him off dismissfully enraging him even more. Maka and the others watched as a black hole opened up behind him and the person in the jacket and the dog turned and walked through, leaving the tall man where he stood. He looked at everyone as they stared back painfully and then he did something Maka didn't expect. He lifted his hand up gave them a thumbs up, as if he were congratulating them for their survival. He then turned and stepped into the hole after his minions.

After the hole closed up the others noticed how the static cut off immediately and they noticed that they could all suddenly breathe better. Maka shook herself at first and shakily got to her feet, but when she looked down at Crona again she limped over to him and fell to her knees next to his body. He was still alive, she could tell that much, but still, he was hurt, _bad_.

Stein went over to her as Marie moved over to help Black Star and then over to Tsubaki as the sisters put Kid's arms over their shoulders. Maka looked down at Crona sadly, but the moment Stein got close enough she reached up with a grimace and grabbed his collar _"What. Were. Those. Things!"_

He shook his head, taking her hand off and then picked Crona up "let me take care of all of you first, because if I'm going to explain then you should all be awake-"

"No! You tell me, what the hell those three were, right now-" she didn't get to finish because Stein palmed her in the gut.

He saw her wince "I'll tell you later Maka, but only _after_ all of you are awake" he shot his wavelength into her and her eyes took on a faded look as she blacked out. He looked down at her sadly as she slumped next to Crona and then he looked up at Lord Death when he came over "help me with them?"

Death nodded and picked her up in his large hands "… she's right Stein, you know that; we need to tell them about who those things were."

Stein sighed "I know… I know but let's at least take care of all of them before we explain what little chance we all have of surviving now."

…

Many hours passed before Crona regained consciousness, so many that by the time Stein finished taking care of him and the others, it was already getting dark again. Waking up was slow for Crona but when he finally did the first thing he felt was the pain. It was a dull throb that began in his wounded arm and then it spread throughout the rest of his body as his senses slowly came back to him. He sat up them gripped his side at the sudden stab of pain that went through there, but once he opened his eyes he could barely feel it after he saw what was in front of him.

Everyone, Maka, Black Star, Kid, Soul, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty, they were all sitting around him looking worried, and he saw that they were covered in bandages and bruises. Maka was the first to notice him move and she called for Stein the moment Crona opened up his eyes. When Stein and Miss Marie came in Crona felt some tension release when he saw that they only had a few bandaged cuts and bruises, he was terrified that something much worse had happened to them.

"Crona… are you ok?" Maka was the first to speak and then she shook her head "Crona, I am so, so sorry, we didn't make it until only after that thing made that bubble around you."

Crona stared at the bandage on her cheek, barely taking in what she said "no… n-no don't worry I'm fine" he shook himself and looked at the others "b-but wait, w-what about all of you? Are you ok?" he looked at Stein and Marie "r-right as that thing knocked me out I saw two pinned down."

Marie smiled and gently rested her hand on his shoulder "we're fine, we only got a few scratches and cuts" she looked down at the bandages wrapping around Crona's hand with concern "does your hand feel ok?"

He nodded and bent his fingers for her though his eyes twitched at the faint pain in them "y-yeah, I-I'm fine, it's just a little sore."

Stein walked over and gave Crona a quick look over, making sure nothing had opened up from his movements. When he saw that everything was alright he sighed "you're very lucky Crona, if Black Star hadn't cut that tentacle when he did you're heart wouldn't be in you right now."

Crona looked over at Black Star when he heard his name and saw a thick cast over one of his arms "oh my gosh! W-what happened to your arm!"

Black Star shrugged with a grin "after I tossed Tsubaki to help you that dog thing tackled me" he chuckled lifting his arm up "almost took my arm off" he saw Crona face fill with guilt and he pointed with his free hand "hey-hey-hey! Now don't you go thinking this is your fault, a god like me doesn't need his subjects worrying when he gets a little scratch."

"If you think almost getting your arm ripped off is a scratched then I'm terrified of what a cut would be" everyone turned to see Nygus walk into the room in her nurse outfit.

Crona frowned as Spirit came in too "M-Miss Nygus? Mister Albarn? What are you doing here?"

Spirit rubbed the back of his head, staring down at Maka's bandages, the guilt written all over his face "I was just sleeping this morning when I suddenly woke up feeling something wrong over here" he shook his head "I don't get how I didn't wake up after all that happened here, but from what people are saying, I wasn't the only one."

Maka frowned this time "what do you mean?"

Nygus looked over everyone's bandages making sure no one needed changing "no one understands why, but it seems that everyone in the city was put to sleep this morning" she stood up and went to a cabinet, looking for some painkillers when she saw Kid wince as he took a breath "joggers, store-clerks, you name it, everyone was just put to sleep earlier and we completely missed what had happened here" she looked at everyone in the room "well… almost everyone."

"Yes, and that's the precise reason why I need you to leave while I explain things to everyone" Stein said and Nygus and Spirit nodded, Death had explained it too the staff already that this was all on a need to know basis. After they had left the room Stein closed and locked the door behind them, then turned to the others "… well… this has been an eventful day hasn't it?" The others remained silent and he nodded to himself "sooo… what do you all know about myths?"

Kid frowned "myths?"

Stein nodded "myths, legends, lore, things like that? Stories talking about creatures, and monsters" he looked at their confused looks and sighed "what if I told you that those stories, or at least some of them, were true?"

Their eyes widened "what?" Maka shook her head, not understanding what he was saying "what do you mean?"

"I'm telling you, that there are things worse that Kishins in the world we live in" he gestured to their wounds "as you've seen."

"Just hurry up and tell us what the hell those things are" Soul growled impatiently.

"That creature, the tall faceless that went after Crona, is a powerful supernatural creature, known simply as the Slenderman" Stein breathed out, searching his mind for everything he knew about it "no one has any clue where he came from or how old he is, but one thing for certain, is that he's powerful, he can make himself invisible, he can put people to sleep, he creates endless arms and tentacles from anywhere on his body, and he can heal himself in an instant" he then glanced at Marie and the bandages on her arms "and that dog creature that was with him, is known as The Rake."

"What is it?" Marie's hand unconsciously moved to the bandages.

"Again, no one knows, all we do know though, is that it serves the Slenderman… if not somewhat reluctantly" he looked over at Crona again "an ability it has though, is that it's able to whisper to someone's mind directly when they're sleeping, it uses this to torment people, give them nightmares, eat away at their sanity and ultimately cause them to kill themselves and anyone in the house with them at the time, or make them run so it has some fun as it rips them apart" he sighed "many people have been affected by that one, many normal happy men and women would suddenly become raging lunatics overnight and kill everyone they love."

"And… what about that other one… the one with the mask we saw?" Maka looked at him with confusion, how can all this be true? All these things he was saying sounded impossible.

"That… was one of the Slenderman's Proxies" he looked at Crona sadly "those who know about him call him Masky" he shrugged "no one knows his real name."

"What's… w-what's a Proxy?" Crona didn't like the look in Stein's eyes. He looked miserable.

"Think of them as servants pretty much, some seem to be robbed of their humanity and become simple killing machines others retain their knowledge and use it to serve the Slenderman better" he reached up and began twisting his bolt "and they're also the reason he came for you" he pointed at Crona.

"W-why me?" Stein was scaring him now.

He shrugged "because of your insanity" he sighed at everyone's confused faces "one thing that remains the same out of all of his Proxies is that they are all insane" he shook his head "I don't know how but when it's strong enough the insanity somehow shields a person from some of his abilities, like how he can put people to sleep and make himself invisible to everyone but the person he wants to be able to see him."

"But…" Crona shook under the sheets "b-but he was going to kill me! He didn't try recruiting me or anything-"

"That's because you had a strong will" Stein tapped Crona's chest "he tries to use things against you when he wants you, he takes you away to a place and uses puppets, he makes them look and act like the people you love, to try and confuse you and weaken your soul's defenses so that he can control it" he tapped him again "but there are some that don't accept the things he shows them and then they become a threat to him because they can see him and resist his influence, and so he kills them."

Despite the implications of that Crona frowned "but then… then why aren't you and Miss Marie dead?" he looked between the two of them "y-you've been around longer then I have" he pointed at Stein "a-and you know all of these things about him, so why aren't you dead?"

Stein chuckled a bit "because I wasn't chosen."

Black Star raised an eyebrow "what do you mean chosen?"

Stein still had that sad smile on his face as he answered "see, the thing with creatures like the Slenderman is that he chooses who he goes after, and his choices are entirely random" he waved his hand around "he'll choose total weaklings over powerful men and women, he'll choose complete idiots over more intelligent people" he shook his head "whither he's coming to recruit or hunt you down, you'll never know, because all that matters is what he chose for you, and either way your body or mind won't live long enough to know what he chose."

"… Why?" Maka asked looking sickened by this information "why does he do things like this?"

Stein shook his head again "to make life more interesting" he reached into his coat and pulled out a cigarette "you see, the Slenderman has the power to eliminate the entire human race in a couple of days" everyone's eyes widened and he nodded "but he doesn't do it, simply because then he couldn't play his games with us" he lit the cigarette and took a long drag "… and so he set's limits to his abilities, he makes rules for the games he plays, like how he can only operate in the dark, in the night or shadows because he made the rule that any lights can be used to repel him if it's strong enough" he gestured to Crona again "which is why he recruits the Proxies, so he can have operatives that work in the day-light."

"So this… this killing he does, this kidnapping and brainwashing…" Tsubaki's eyes narrowed in anger "it's all just a big _game_ to him?"

Stein nodded again "yes, and another thing about him is that once he's chosen a target" he looked back at Crona with that sad look "he will kill anything that gets in his way and he _never_… _ever_, leaves them alone until he's gotten what he wants."

Crona's face slowly fell as he realized what he was saying "so… so you mean-"

"He's going to be back" the others all looked at Stein with horror and then at Crona as he paled "he could be back tonight, or tomorrow, he could even come back in a year" he shook his head "you can never tell with him."

"But how do you know?" Maka looked at him hopefully "he has to get bored eventually-"

"No, he doesn't" he saw Maka's crestfallen look and his own face saddened "I know because I lost two students to him once" he took another drag on his cigarette "they encountered a supernatural on one of their missions and after that Lord Death brought them into the Hunter-Division, a secret division Lord Death created to hunt down dangerous supernatural creatures when they began preying on humans" he sighed at the memory "I don't know when he was chosen, but after I kept the Slenderman from taking the two of them one day, two years after that when the two of them were alone and we thought he had given up, he came for them and killed them both" Crona noticed one of his hands curl into a fist "they were found pinned on the limbs of a tree three days after they went missing, and all of their organs were found ripped out of them and then put back in after they were stuffed inside plastic bags" everyone in the room felt sick hearing that, Marie even gagged.

"S-so… so there's nothing we can do?" Crona sounded scared. Very scared

Stein shook his head "I'm afraid not" he saw how miserable this made him, but he had no idea what he could do or say to make him feel better "I'm sorry Crona."

Maka put her hand on his back, but he did nothing but stare down at the sheets below him. Everyone in the room stared at him sadly and no one could think of anything to say. All attention was on Crona now, which would explain how no one noticed how there was an extra body in the room with them. No one noticed the dark-haired man leaning on the wall next to the door and they still didn't notice him as he wiped down his glasses.

"My, my, so much sadness" everyone spun around to see the man as he put his glasses back on "you'd almost think someone died in here" he chuckled to himself. Everyone had their weapons out in an instant and they pointed it at the man and he put his hands up quickly but the condescending smile never left his face as the others saw the marks on his hands. It looked like two oval eyes intersecting each other in a cross-like shape.

"Who are you?" Stein readied Marie just in case they had to attack this man, there was something wrong with him, Stein couldn't feel his soul at all "how did you get in here?"

The man's smile grew "you'll find that I share many abilities with my master, locked doors can't stop me" everyone's eyes widened and Stein moved to grab him. No one in the room understood what happened next, but one second Stein was about to hit the man in the face, and the next he was down on the ground and Marie was on her back on top of Crona's bed, and something else that scared everyone else was that she was in human form.

They couldn't even see what the man had done to them as they lay where they were, gasping for breath and clutching their stomachs "now, is anyone else going to try anything?" he looked around them "anyone? No? Good" he reached inside his suit and pulled out a letter "well then, to answer your question my dear, my name does not matter, I am known simply as the Observer" he smiled down at them darkly "and my master is very interested in your little group."

Crona looked down at Marie with concern, his eyes never leaving her "how did you do that?"

He shrugged "as I said, I share many abilities with my master, spatial and time distortion is one of these many abilities."

"W-w-what do you want?"

He chuckled "I have not come here to kill any of you, if that is what you're thinking" he walked forwards and everyone was so afraid that no one stopped him as he reached out over Marie to put the letter on Crona's covered lap "no, my master merely wanted me to give you a message" he chuckled down at Crona's terrified expression "oh, my poor, poor boy" he shook his head "you have no idea what a mistake you made not accepting my master's offer to join us, for it's a wonderful one, this life we live" he chuckled, turning around "it's so very entertaining" he walked over to the door, but right as he gripped the handle to leave he stopped "oh, wait yes, I almost forgot" he turned to face them and then snapped his fingers.

The others didn't understand what had happened at first but then Black Star could suddenly feel his wounded arm. He looked down at it and tried moving his fingers and his eyes widened when they obeyed him. Crona's hand wasn't throbbing anymore and when he looked at his bandages, all of the black spots were gone from the fabric. Maka and the others touched their bandages and then peeled them away to find every wound they had received was healed completely. The only ones who remained where they were was Marie and Stein, they were still gripping their stomachs.

They all looked back to the Observer as he chuckled at them "… why?" was all Crona could think to ask.

The Observer simply gestured to the letter on Crona's lap "read and you shall understand" he then turned back to the door and when he opened it up to a pitch-black void "good day children" he stepped through the doorway to the other side and the door began closing behind him. When the door was halfway closed though he turned around one last time and looked Crona right in the eye "and good luck to you" he chuckled as the door shut.

Right as the door clicked Kid ran forward and tore it open, but all he found on the other side was the hallway. He looked out and down to see the night-staff walking through the halls and he punched the wall seeing that the Observer had literally disappeared.

Crona was frozen, staring down at the letter before he shook himself then reached for Marie "a-are you ok?" he shook her "Miss Marie?"

She nodded painfully "yes… yes I'm alright" looks like the Observer healed everything but the bruises he just gave them "Stein?" he painfully lifted his arm up and gave her a thumbs up and she breathed out in relief.

Stein pushed himself up, suing Crona's bed to support himself "what was that all about?"

Crona looked down at the letter and lifted it up "I don't know" it was blank all except for a circle with a curved X in the center.

Stein looked down at the letter for a fill minute before he sighed and gestured to it "well… go ahead, read it."

Crona looked down at the letter again then with gulp he opened his palm "Ragnarok?"

"Yeah… y-yeah okay" Crona shivered hearing his partner's voice again. Sure, he was relieved to hear it all together, but the fact that _Ragnarok_ just stuttered in fear chilled the boy to the bone.

A tiny black knife formed in Crona's hand and he cut the letter open, taking the paper out. He swallowed again, noting how dry his throat was, but he read the strangely written letter all the same:

HeLLo tHeRE _**Crona,**_

ConGRaTulaTiONS oN SurVivINg Me.

i MUst SaY, YoU HaVE INtereSTiNg fRieNds LiTTlE OnE, VeRY InTerESTinG FriENDs.

i ReMeMBer ThE mAN wITh tHE sCRew IN hIS HeAD, AnD THaT _**Maka**_ GirL oF YourS SeEMed QuITe StrONG AS WeLL.

i ALso WanTEd tO ConGRaTulaTe ThE faCT ThAT YoU ResiSTeD ME.

AnD sO, i HaVE DeCIdEd tO gIVe yOu a ChaNCe tO EsCApe FrOM mY LITtlE GamE.

YoU'Re FriENds aRE sAFe FrOm ME, iT's YoU i wAnT, ANd tHiS iS wHAt i wANT FrOm YoU.

_**100 Souls**_. ThAT Is WhAT i waNT yOU tO brIng ME.

BuT THeSE ARen'T JuST ANy Souls i WaNt FrOM YoU.

i WAnT _**100 Souls** _oF **_Supernatural_** CrEATureS.

i dO NOt CaRE HoW yoU GeT TheM

hOWEver, i wArN YOu, _**One** **Year**_ FrOm toMoRRoW i WiLL CoMe FoR yOu, ANd IF yOU haVeN't CollEcTed tHeM ALL bY ThEn_**…**_

_**YoU WiLL dIE**_

Good Luck.

With Love,

**_Slenderman_**

"What's it say?" Maka moved to his shoulder but right as she looked at the paper it glowed black and broke apart in Crona's hand.

Everyone looked at the scraps as they flowed around in the air before settling on Crona's lap where they began sticking to each other and then it changed into a cube with a little folded tag attached to it. Crona lifted it up and he noticed how it fit easily into the palm of his hands and as the others stared at him and he tore the tag off and unfolded it "Just a place to keep all those souls you collect. _**XOXO~Slendy."**_

He was silent for a while as he digested all of what he had just read and then he finally threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up "Professor Stein?" he looked at his teacher "how dangerous can most Supernatural creatures get?"

He looked at him with surprise but then cranked his screw "most can be as powerful as high-level Kishin Eggs, and some can be as dangerous as someone like Asura" he feared the answer to his next question "why?"

"This thing… Slenderman" Crona looked down "he wants me to collect 100 of their souls and do it within on year from now."

Stein winced at the answer and then nodded "it's not surprising."

"100 Souls in one year?" Kid shook hi head "there's no way, even with Kishins, it's hard to track them from the usual serial killers, and these things are so hard to find that they're almost impossible to catch" he looked at Stein "how is he supposed to do that all alone in one year?"

"He'll be able to do it if we all help him" Maka looked at Kid angrily for not realizing it "don't you get it? Why else would that guy heal us if he didn't want us involved" she shook her head "those injuries would have kept us down for weeks, months even for Black Star" she gestured to the cast as Black Star cut it off himself "so if this thing wants us to play in this stupid game of his by helping Crona get these souls, then I'm fine with it."

The others nodded in agreement and Kid held his hands up "if it means saving Crona then I'm fine."

Stein looked at his students and then sighed "… I'll have to run it by Lord Death" he put his hands on his hips and thought "the Hunter-Division is made to watch out for creatures when they pop up so we had an entire team devoted to watching out for anomalies all over the world" he nodded to himself "it should make finding creatures easier."

Crona looked around at his friends with a frown "you don't have to do this. He already said that you're all safe from-"

"Dude" Soul shook his head as he cut him off "shut up, we're helping you with this whether you like it or not" he patted his shoulder then looked at Stein "you'll call us after you're done talking with Death?"

Stein nodded then looked at Marie "Marie, I want you to take Crona back to my lab, I don't trust this thing, even if it did say we were all safe, The Rake nearly killed Crona even though the Slenderman obviously didn't want him too, so I'm afraid he'll try again."

She nodded and turned to Crona. She smiled at him as she took his hand and she rubbed the back of her head with a somewhat embarrassed look "well… looks like we're going to have to ruin the surprise we had planned for you."

He frowned as she took him out of the room "what do you mean?"

"I think it'd be better if you saw it for yourself, let it be more of a surprise then" she smiled at him sadly as they reached the stairs, but once they made it there she stopped suddenly. She turned to face him in the empty hallway and before he could ask what was wrong she hugged him

"M-Miss Marie?" he felt her shudder against him.

"Crona… Crona I am so, so sorry that this happened to you" he now realized that she was crying "this shouldn't have happened, not to you, not after everything you've been through" she shook her head "and I'm sorry that me and Stein didn't get here sooner-"

"Miss Marie…" his own look saddened "please stop crying" he lifted his arms up hesitantly, but finally rested them on her back "you and Stein did the best you could" his arms tightened around her "and you did save me, if you didn't show up when you did that thing, the Rake would have killed me."

"I still should have gotten here faster" she backed away and rubbed at her eyes "and so I'm going to do everything I can to help you Crona, I am not going to lose you to those _things_" he face showed her determination.

Crona smiled at her "thank you."

Marie nodded again and took a calming breath, regaining her composure "ok… I'm ok now" she shook her head with that embarrassed look again "I'm sorry, I just… I just had to get that out" she rubbed her eyes again, getting the last of the tears off "god, I feel so stupid now" she chuckled a bit "but you know how emotional I can get" she took his hand again and took him down the stairs. Crona smiled at her as she pulled him along "now come on, I want you in your new room asleep right away."

Crona's eyes widened at that. New room? What was that all about? He didn't have a chance to ask however because she dragged him so forcefully that he stumbled just about the whole way to Stein's lab.

* * *

_**Alright guys. Second chapter's up and running.**_

_**So, as I said in the beginning, I was going to explain how things were going to work.**_

_**I'm about to set up a poll on my profile that has three creature choices for the third chapter, the runner ups will be for the fourth and fifth chapter. Check it out, leave your choices, and wait for the next chapter.**_

_** Tell me what you guys think. I'll take any criticism you offer. I want only to improve.**_

* * *

_**UPDATE UPDATE: Check out My Profile to get links for info on the creature choices and to vote for the next three chapters.**_


End file.
